By JENNIFER FERMINO
Posted: 3:50 am
August 19, 2008
The lawyer for a Queens man accused of supplying military gear to al Qaeda said the feds are unfairly withholding crucial information from his client under a Cold War-era act created to stop spies from spilling state secrets.
Sean Maher, a lawyer for accused jihadist Syed Hashmi, said even though he can access some of the hush-hush materials, he can't talk about it with his client because they have been deemed state secrets under the Classified Information Procedures Act.
"The accused can't even be in the courtroom [when the alleged evidence is being discussed]," Maher said after a pretrial hearing in Manhattan federal court yesterday, much of which was closed to the public - and his client.
"We're asking for the judge to order the evidence to be declassified immediately," Maher said. "You have to weigh state secrets versus someone's right to a fair trial when they're facing the rest of their life in prison."
Hashmi, who was the first terror suspect ever extradited from Britain, is accused of teaming up with other al Qaeda sympathizers to smuggle night-vision goggles and other gear to jihadists in Pakistan.
